Internet major Google is in the early stages of negotiations with Reliance Communications [Get Quote] to take part of Flag Telecom's trans-Pacific undersea communications cable on a long-term lease.

Google is believed to be in talks to take on a lease of 500 GB bandwidth; this, according to industry sources, puts the deal size at around $80-100 million (Rs 320-400 crore).

According to sources, the companies have initiated talks to set up a joint cable under a 'cooperative arrangement'.

Under the broad contours of the discussions, Flag Telecom will sell dark fibre to Google. This will help Google save the cost of duplicating a fibre optic network, estimated around $350-380 million (Rs1,400-1,500 crore).

With the availability of dark fibre, Google will only need to invest in lighting up the cable, and it would give the company a self-managed, fully secure network.

While for Reliance Communications, with such a pre-sale deal, it would get a reasonable proportion of the capex that would be used for construction of the cable.

When contacted, a Reliance Communications spokesperson declined to comment.

Sources said Reliance Communications would also look at selling lit-capacity on its global internet protocol networks to Google. Flag has lit-up capacity on its Falcon cable in west Asia and other cables on the Mediterranean and east African coasts.

Flag Telecom had recently announced its plan to set up trans-Pacific cable, under its Rs 6,000 crore next- generation network expansion plan. A cable on the trans-Pacific route would cost around Rs 1,400-1,500 crore ($350-380 million).

Flag has recently awarded construction of its four submarine cables under the Flag NGN plan to Japanese giant Fujitsu [Get Quote].

The move also gains importance as Google was planning to set up its own sub-sea cable across Pacific, under a project called Unity. However, it could not be ascertained whether Google would go ahead with the project or shelve it by leasing a portion of Flag's trans-Pacific system.